The Stewardship that Points to Heaven

 He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:1-9).

Jesus followed His parable that ended with an exhortation to keep our hearts sanctified and set apart for Him with another parable that touched on how His disciples should manage worldly possessions as we travel through this temporal life on toward eternal life. He spoke to them in the hearing of the Pharisees so he used an example that would convict their corrupt hearts while at the same time exhort His disciples to pursue true holiness. The wicked, selfish manager was so concerned about his impeding fate that he used his unrighteous gain to ingratiate himself to his master’s debtors. Jesus used the tale of this hard hearted person to challenge our hearts to discover and practice the stewardship that points to Heaven.

Diligent disciples should live today with a longing for tomorrow. The wicked manager’s fear about the possibility of a destitute future drove him to change the way he did business in the present. He used his position and relationships with his master’s debtors to secure a better future for himself. Jesus urged His disciples to invest the worldly things we accumulate on our journey toward Heaven as seed that can produce eternal treasure when it is sown into the lives of others… “Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys” (Luke 12:33). The way we handle earthly treasure is a revelation of who in in control of our heart… “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:34).

Daring disciples are willing to risk passing possessions in order to rescue perishing people. The selfish manager’s concern for his own welfare in the reality of losing his position compelled him to defraud his master and deceive others to gain a sense of comfort for himself. Jesus urged His disciples to use our worldly possessions to influence the destiny of others that might never have heard the gospel… “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). He invites us to invest all the temporary treasure He has blessed us with to gloriously transform the future of others by sharing the gospel with them… “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4).

Developing disciples are learning to sow unrighteous seed to produce a harvest of righteousness. The unrighteous manager was so self-centered that he did not realize he was merely accumulating more fading mammon. When we give our unrighteousness to Christ, He transforms it into a harvest of righteousness that glorifies God… “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness” (2 Corinthians 9:10).

As we grow up into Christ, our lives can attract others to His righteousness as we practice…

The Stewardship that Points to Heaven.

The Salve for a Sanctified Heart

“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found’” (Luke 15:25-32).

The heart of the prodigal’s father overflowed with joy because of the repentant heart and return of his wayward son. His heart could not contain his excitement and he wanted to share his joy with everyone that was near and dear to him. He threw a great party and was caught up in rejoicing with family, servants, neighbors, and friends when the celebration was interrupted with a report that his older son was outside and refusing to join the celebration. He immediately left the party to go to his older son whose hardened and hurting heart needed immediate attention. In the father’s response to the hardened heart of his older son we get a glimpse of our Heavenly Father’s approach to our own heart that from time to time needs His personal attention and care. He knows that our hearts are sensitive and vulnerable and must be kept and protected diligently… “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23). Jesus used this part of the parable to exhort maturing disciples in every age to keep our hearts healthy and set apart for Him by keeping them immersed in the truth from His Word that is the salve for a sanctified heart.

God’s Word is a salve for the self-righteous heart. The older son presented a long list of accomplishments that he believed entitled him to some big time rewards. But his inheritance was supposed to be a gift that recognized the special relationship between a father and his son, not a reward for loyalty or obedience. In the same way the gift of salvation and our inheritance in Heaven is a reflection of our Father’s grace and the relationship He wants to have with His children… “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4). The sanctified heart acknowledges that our salvation and eternal inheritance are gifts received through the grace of our loving Father.

God’s Word is a salve for the selfish heart. The older son’s heart was consumed with what his undeserving brother received. He lost sight of all that he himself had because of his relationship with his father. This has been our adversary Satan’s primary strategy from the beginning when he got Eve’s focus off of all she had and fixed on the one thing that was not hers… “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate” (Genesis 3:6). As God’s children we have everything we need to live for Him now and forever… “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3). The sanctified heart is not distracted by worldly enticements but is fixed on heavenly blessings in Christ.

God’s Word is a salve for the skeptical heart. The older son’s heart doubted his father’s wisdom in so quickly forgiving and restoring his wayward son. This may be the most important part of the parable because with this insight Jesus exhorted His disciples to be steadfast in trusting the sovereignty of God… “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). The sanctified heart is growing in trusting and being part of God’s sovereign will as revealed in His Son Jesus Christ.

As we grow up into Christ, we stay set apart to Him by immersing our hearts in His Word…

The Salve for a Sanctified Heart.

The Mercy that Leads to New Life

 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate” (Luke 15:11-24).

Jesus continued His response to the grumbling of the Pharisees and the scribes. He related a long and detailed story of a father’s dealing with his impetuous and rebellious son. The first two thirds of the parable focus on the father’s delicate and purposeful handling of the rebellious heart of his youngest son. The conclusion of the parable focus on the father’s handling of the jealous and scornful heart of his elder, obedient son. Our Teacher, the Holy Spirit reveals some wonderful truth as we study the first part of this well-known parable. When we consider that in this parable Jesus intended the father to represent our Heavenly Father, we get a precious glimpse of the mercy that leads to new life.

God is merciful in our rebellion. When the younger son demanded his share of the “property that is coming to me” he was disobeying the law of inheritance and disrespecting his father. An inheritance was only to be received upon the passing or at the discretion of the father. By waiting and faithfully serving his father the son would enjoy the blessing of a much greater inheritance at the appointed time. As children of God, true disciples have the promise of an eternal inheritance… “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11). The Lord is merciful toward us by preserving this precious inheritance for His repentant children no matter how long we persist in our rebellion against Him… “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-6).

God is merciful in our repentance. When the prodigal son “came to himself” he was finally able to see the truth of his fallen condition. His repentant heart revealed that he believed his father would receive him back, at least as a servant. He believed his father’s heart reflected the eagerness of our Heavenly Father to embrace us when we repent… “The LORD your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him” (2 Chronicles 30:9). The Spirit inspired the apostle John to remind us of the mercy of God toward His repentant children… “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

God is merciful in our return. Upon the prodigal’s return his father dressed him, sacrificed a calf, and hosted a great feast, all of which reflects the mercy of God toward each and every one of His repentant children… “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7).

As we grow up into Christ, we appreciate more and learn to share with others…

The Mercy that Leads to New Life.

The Repentance that Produces Heavenly Joy

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost. Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:1-10).

The crowds grew larger and sinners drew closer to Jesus. Pharisees and scribes grumbled because Jesus so eagerly and graciously received the tax collectors and sinners that fought and struggled to get closer to Him. How ironic that the very words and miracles that attracted sinners also repelled the self-righteous. The two parables Jesus shared here take on very personal and special meaning when we consider that we are the sheep of the shepherd and the precious coin with the imprint of the King. Passion and zeal for His presence and His word ignited joy in the heart of the Master and He seized this opportunity to rebuke the religious leaders of His day and to exhort His disciples in every age to encourage and compassionately respond to the repentance that produces heavenly joy.

True repentance makes God rejoice. Consider the great effort God expended in seeking and saving the lost. He willingly emptied Himself of divinity and filled Himself with humanity, surrendering life to experience death in order to provide atonement for our sin… “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8). The primary purpose for His incarnation was to seek and to save the lost… “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Those who turn from sin to Christ bring great joy to the Father who seeks them with such relentless shepherd-like love!

True repentance makes disciples rejoice. There were two kinds of sinners in this great crowd. There were those aware of and repulsed by their sin and there were those so blinded by their self-righteousness they could not see the salvation offered so freely to them. Jesus’ eager reception of the repentant sinners that crowded close to Him should compel true disciples to be just as eager to attract sinners to Christ and to receive them just as graciously as He did. When we follow Christ’s example, like the shepherd and the woman in His parables we experience the same kind of rejoicing they were compelled to share with others… “Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together” (John 4:35-36). True disciples find their home in a soul-winning local church that is teeming with joy as they bring repentant sinners to faith in Christ!

True repentance makes heaven rejoice. The result of true repentance is forgiveness and salvation for the genuinely repentant sinner… “Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Heaven knows the result of such true repentance is eternal life… “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Heaven overflows with eternal joy every time a repentant sinner comes home!

As we grow up into Christ, our rejoicing increases as we more zealously seek and lead sinners to…

The Repentance that Produces Heavenly Joy.

The Passion of True Discipleship

 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 14:25-35).

Here is another wonderful example of Jesus drawing “great crowds” and then confronting them with a challenge to step up and away from the crowd of followers and to come closer to Him and into the life of true discipleship. He made the requirements of disciples very clear in this brief exhortation. He described a fresh new attitude toward people, possessions, and purpose that would mark His genuine disciples in every age. Today the Holy Spirit uses Jesus’ words to challenge our hearts to go deeper with Him by discovering and embracing the passion of true discipleship.

The priority of discipleship is Christ before people. Jesus did not advocate hating the important people He has placed in our lives, like family, friends, and neighbors. He used the word hate here to mean His disciples must not love anyone more than Him. He clarified this principle in another lesson… “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37). Decreasing love for our own lives is another mark of maturing faith… “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25). True disciples are learning to love everyone, even our enemies, but we love no one more passionately than Christ.

The price of discipleship is Christ before possessions. For pilgrims moving ever steadily toward our eternal home in heaven, the things of this world are serious distractions. We learn to be stewards of everything the Lord has given us and we long to use them for His eternal purposes. Jesus’ exhortation to “renounce all that he has” is a call to surrender ownership of our possessions to Him and to use them to show our growing love for Him to the world around us… “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). True disciples hold onto nothing more passionately than Christ.

The preoccupation of discipleship is Christ before the world. Salt is a substance used for seasoning and for the preservation of certain foods. When we accept Christ as our Savior we become salt for Him… “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet” (Matthew 5:13). He wants true disciples to be a flavoring and preserving influence in the world. As we walk closely with Him and grow up in the faith, our lives should become a clearer and more influential reflection of His life to the world around us… “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). As we mature as disciples, others will react either positively or negatively as we passionately season our world with the salt and light of the life of Christ that is growing in us… “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). True disciples passionately share Christ.

As we grow up into Christ, all of life becomes all about Him as we mature in the faith and grow in…

The Passion of True Discipleship.

The Invitation that is Sacred

When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet’” (Luke 14:15-24).

Jesus responded to the presumptive declaration of a follower with another banquet parable. He used this parable to show us more clearly the way to enter and live in the kingdom of God and to describe the responses of people to His Father’s invitation to “eat bread in the kingdom of God”. For the lost the parable represents an invitation to salvation… “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9). For the saved the parable represents an invitation to live in fellowship with God… “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). In Christ, Our Father is always inviting us to go deeper in our fellowship with Him. He calls us corporately and individually to know Him more intimately through church, Bible study, and ministry. Diligent disciples who will allow the Holy Spirit to lead us in a study of the special invitation that Jesus presented in this parable will discover precious, encouraging truth about the invitation that is sacred.

The sacred invitation proceeds from the Father through His Son. Our lives are saturated with invitations. They come from family, work, and strangers. They come through television, internet, and all sorts of other media. There are also cultural invitations to devote our time and energy to so many good and bad things. But Jesus reminds us that there is a sacred, holy invitation. It is God’s call to come away with Him… “My beloved speaks and says to me: ‘Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away’” (Song of Songs 2:10). Enoch heard and answered this invitation… “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:24). The Revelation of Jesus Christ is the result of John the Apostle’s response to a sacred invitation… “After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this’” (Revelation 4:1).

The sacred invitation produces consequences for those who reject it. Those unwilling to reply to God’s invitation are left with the fruit of their own longing. In the parable Jesus described three men who rejected the invitation and were left with a field, a few oxen, and a wife. Everything on earth, no matter how attractive or noble, is fleeting and cannot compare with the eternal blessings derived from a few moments with the King…  “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:16-17).

The sacred invitation provides blessings for those who accept it. We are created like God and graciously saved by God to enjoy fellowship with God. Evidence that we are truly born again is a longing for the true, lasting joy that is found only in His presence… “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

As we grow up into Christ, we are saved and becoming more like Him as daily we accept…

The Invitation that is Sacred.